Open Socrates

Agnes Callard

The ancient Greek philosopher Socrates, perhaps the most important figure in Western culture, is hiding in plain sight. If his claim that “the unexamined life is not worth living” has ceased to shock us, it is not because we know how to live an examined life; it is because we talk about the “Socratic method” in ignorance of how much this method demands of us. In her book *Unlocked Socrates*, the renowned philosopher Agnes Callard delves deeper into Socrates’ thought than any contemporary writer. As she explains, Socrates observed that the most important questions begin closed: before a person has had a chance to reflect on how they should live, their carnal desires or the forces of social conformity have already answered them. Is it really possible to ask a question you think you have already answered? Callard says yes—but we cannot do it alone. She argues that the true ambition of the Socratic method is to reveal what one human being can be to another. You can use another person in many ways—for survival, for pleasure, for convenience—but you engage them most fully when you call on them to help answer your own questions, and to challenge your own answers. How should we manage romantic love? What is the right way to think about one's own death? What form should our politics take? These were among the most difficult questions in Socrates' time, and they remain true 2,500 years later. Callard shows us how the Socratic method enables us to make progress in answering them and, at the same time, offers us a new ethic to which we can adhere.